Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church

For 2,000 years, Catholicism—the largest religion in the world and in the United States—has shaped global history on a scale unequaled by any other institution. But until now, Catholics interested in their faith have been hard-pressed to find an accessible, affirmative, and exciting history of the Church.
Triumph is that history. Inside, you'll discover the spectacular story of the Church from Biblical times and the early days of St. Peter—the first pope—to the twilight years of John Paul II. It is a sweeping drama of Roman legions, great crusades, epic battles, toppled empires, heroic saints, and enduring faith. And, there are stormy controversies: Dark Age skullduggery, the Inquistition, the Renaissance popes, the Reformation, the Church's refusal to accept sexual liberation and contemporary allegations like those made in Hitler's Pope and Papal Sin.
A brawling, colorful history full of inspiring pageantry and spirited polemic, Triumph will exhilarate, amuse, and infuriate as it extols the glories of Catholic history and the gripping stories of its greatest men and women.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

The Rest of the Story

By Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" - February 22, 2004

I bought the hardback of this book after seeing the author on C-Span Book TV. I disagree completely with the negative reviews of this book for the following reasons. First, the authors of those reviews seem to be well-versed in the history of the last 2000 years and object to how Mr. Crocker presents his version. All I can say is they have been lucky not to have had to sit through what passes as history as I have. I have never heard Mr. Crocker's side, even in so-called Catholic books. "A church that never went right would be quite as miraculous as a church that never went wrong," Chesterton quipped in Orthodoxy. In all the other versions of history I've been exposed to, the church never goes right. Obviously their fairy tales were as flawed as Mr. Crocker's critics feel his presentation to be. Yet even now these inventive revisions top the best seller list. How I pity the innocent readers who, unaware of the marketing ploy foisted on them, may attempt to create a coherent... read more

Warning: This Book is F-U-N

By Terrence J. Sexton "Terrence Sexton" - December 28, 2001

Tired of seeing the Catholic Church pilloried by malcontents, defectors, and detractors? Longing for a sweeping, well-written overview of the Church's unparalleled achievements over the last two millennia? If so, you will really enjoy this book. I received it for Christmas and could not put it down. Crocker will, predictably, be criticized by those who wish that the Church was not so wedded to the objective, immutable, hard truths preached by the Apostles and St. Paul. But the critics must ask themselves why, if the Church is really the decrepit, bankrupt institution they depict it to be, they expend so much time, effort and ink attacking it?This is not revisionist history; Crocker readily admits that the Church is a divine, infallible institution made up of human, fallible creatures. Far from exposing the Church as a fraud, these excesses and failures of the past only reinforce its divine character. Indeed, only a Church that received the protection promised in Matthew... read more

Don't judge it for what it is not.

By Kevin Davis - January 10, 2005

If you expect this to be an academic, critical history of the Catholic Church, then you need to read the title again. Crocker is not a professional historian, and he doesn't pretend to be. However, as a man's honest interpretation and commentary of true historical events, the book is excellent. This is history through the eyes of a faithful, orthodox Roman Catholic, in the historico-apologetic tradition of Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson, and G.K. Chesterton. Crocker is clearly indebted to them for his understanding of the Church and its development as it struggles against numerous foes, secular and religious. Of particular interest to Western Christian readers is the second half beginning with the Reformation. Like Belloc, Crocker wants to locate the rampant secularism of today within the principles of the Reformation -- such as in this memorable quote:

"The result [of sola scriptura], over time, was that in Protestant countries, theology was no longer 'the queen of... read more

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